Today was about 1 mile and 100′ of climbing (more, later). Totals are 166 miles walked and 14,500′ climbed.

So, what’s the story today?

We took the train between towns! We’re quite confident that Segeric would have done the same during his famous walk of 990 AD; had the train been available. For 2.80 € apiece, it was for us!

In only 25 minutes, we traveled the 10 or so miles and arrived in Sarzana, hardly breaking a sweat!

A quite lovely medieval village!

What’s fascinating is that Sarzana is only 10 miles away from where we started this Italian trip, in Riomaggiore, along the Cinque Terre!

So, what happened? Several factors play into the decision to take a train today.

The first was, we were getting tired!  The last few days were pretty tough. We probably should have scheduled an off day before this stage.

Secondly, today’s route looked straightforward … until you looked at the details. It’s only 12 miles long and net loses 200′ of elevation. There are no major mountain passes in the middle, so it should be fairly easy. No..

The stage includes almost 3,000′ of ascent and 3,200′ of descent. All in only 12 miles. Constant up and down.

Thirdly, the trail conditions are not good. In a previous post, I talked about the trail conditions; eroded, steep, slippery rocks, and mud.

Fourth, it was projected to rain. Water flow on these eroded trails adds to the difficulty.

Finally,  Bill somehow managed to piss off a bee, who returned the favor but stinging him on his ear!  That happened on Saturday and has been spreading more each day. A day off to recover, ice, take meds, seemed good.

And all this serves to illustrate. Mark Twain’s (?) quote: “it’s a poor mind that can’t figure several reasons to do what they already intended to do, anyways!”

We’re enjoying the rest day. Ciao!